Eyelash Fungi (Scutellinia scutellata) on Animal Scat

I’m not in the habit of photographing animal scats. Yesterday, when I saw scats covered with bright orange dots, I thought it warranted a bit of investigation, so I took a photograph.

This scat (possibly Wallaby or Echidna, from the shape) caught my eye because of the bright orange dots.,

With a bit of time on the internet, I discovered that the orange dots were tiny Eyelash Fungi (Scutellinia scutellata) . Thanks to The Nature of Robertson blog, and the Bushranger blog, I was able to find out quite a bit last night. This morning, I went out again and took photographs with the macro lens.

The Eyelash Fungi are cup-shaped with a fringe, resembling eyelashes, around the edge.

Apparently, Eyelash Fungi grow on rotting wood, wet soil with a high level of rotting vegetable matter, and generally in damp places. In Australia, they are predominantly found in the Southern regions. However they are common in North America and Europe, and found on every continent. The more rounded shapes are the young fungi, while the flatter, cup-shaped fungi are fully formed.

So you can see the ‘eyelashes’ I’ve taken an excerpt from the above photograph and enlarged it.